Critics say Rahul Gandhi considers himself as God who would not give “darshan” to even senior leaders waiting at his door for weeks and months, writes Deepak Kumar Jha
Like a rudderless ship in a turbulent sea, Congress sinks every day—bit by bit—desperately looking for a captain to perform the miraculous rescue act. Gandhis have undoubtedly failed to fight the hostile political tides unleashed by the BJP, helped in good measures by Congress dissidents. Compelled to look beyond the Gandhis as the party narrowed its search to some trusted stewards, veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad has fired another torpedo.
Azad termed the ongoing organizational elections a mere farce and complete fake with no voting done and a list of office bearers prepared by a handful of coterie or High Command’s security guards and personal assistants.
Azad may have his own reasons to sever his five-decade-old association with a party that rewarded him with the top posts both in the organization and in the government. Congress leaders feel that Azad had drifted to the BJP camp long ago and he was just waiting for the green signal from the saffron camp to jump the ship. The timing of his resignation is crucial. It gives him enough time to mobilize resources and organize his new party to harm the Congress prospect in Jammu when the elections are held.
But the points he had raised in his five-page letter to Sonia Gandhi do capture the essence of what ails the Congress: That a coterie rules the party and Rahul Gandhi considers himself as God who would not give “darshan” to even senior leaders waiting at his door for weeks and months,
In this background, it looks doubtful if the election process will throw a new president who would independently act beyond the shadow of the Gandhis. A puppet in the hands of a puppeteer is not what Congress needs at this juncture, but a leader who can restore the dignity of the cadre and establish inner-party democracy, and feel the party a will to fight.
The Gandhis have failed to stem the exodus of leaders despite the promise of reforms, including structural changes and prominence to youngsters, at its brainstorming session in Rajasthan’s Udaipur in May.
Congress is seen making little effort to reach out to dissidents. For them, anyone who raised a voice against the Gandhis is an “agent” of the BJP. Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly said that anyone who succumbs to the pressure of the BJP in this “fight for ideology” is free to leave.
The list of deserters includes RPN Singh, Jitin Prasada, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Sushmita Dev- all children of former and heavyweights Congressmen. Big leaders like Birender Singh, Rao Inderjit Singh, Himanta Biswa Sarma, S M Krishna, Jayanti Natarajan, Sanjay Sinh, Narayan Rane, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Manipur N Biren Singh, Pema Khandu, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Khushboo Sundar, former Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan and many more have left the party in recent years.
Media reports and filtered information have suggested that the ‘interim’ chief Sonia Gandhi “desires” Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to lead the party in the 2024 general elections, but there is no clarity on this issue. The argument in favour of Gehlot is that he is the OBC face of the Congress; his elevation could make way for Sachin Pilot to take over as Rajasthan Chief minister and end the infighting Rajasthan Congress, and he is a hardcore loyalist of the Gandhi family.
Of course, no one is ready to take into account the fact that beyond Rajasthan Gehlot has hardly any influence, and he is singularly incapable of matching Narendra Modi’s gift of gab.
Rahul Gandhi resigned as Congress president after the party suffered its second consecutive defeat in Parliamentary elections in 2019. Sonia Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party again as interim president, had also offered to quit in August 2020 after an open revolt by a section of leaders, referred to as G-23, but the CWC had urged her to continue.
In its Congress Working Committee (CWC) held in October 2021, the party had announced the election schedule for its presidential elections that included a massive membership drive for the polls that eventually started on November 1, 2021 and went on till March 31, 2022. It announced the new Congress president will be held between August 21 and September 20, 2022. The elections election State unit PCC presidents, vice presidents, treasurers, PCC executives and AICC members by PCC general body was conducted as per its schedule between July 21-August 20, 2022.
But, uncertainty and suspense continue on the issue yet again. Several party insiders say Rahul Gandhi is persisting with his stance that he will not be the AICC president. Gehlot has sought to play down reports about him being the frontrunner for the Congress president’s post and said efforts will be made till the last minute to persuade Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the party again.
“Congress is the only pan India base alternate, rather the first one, to counter the largest party BJP. Though the number in legislatures may not be in its favour, it still has a broad base and is often talked about resurrecting itself. Now the issue of heading a party by a Gandhi member or a non-Gandhi is very instrumental. While anointing a veteran like Gehlot as is being talked about in the media may be welcome but the core issue remains about the legitimacy, legacy, and sacrifice. The Gandhis have all the credentials hence the party looks only for a Gandhi family member to head it. We have looked in the past at the rise and decimation of Sitaram Kesari which is still etched in the minds of Congress workers. Either a Gandhi member (be it Sonia continues or Rahul makes a comeback or a new face Priyanka) takes over or they name anyone to boost the sagging morale of party,” says political scientist, Prof Pushpendra Kumar, retired from Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS).
According to Pushpendra Kumar if the party goes with a non-Gandhi leader then it has to be actively involved in party affairs including reconciling the leaders in case of resentment or just giving a feel-good factor to the over century-old party. “No one will want such a huge party that participated in the freedom struggle with its leaders spending years in prison and sacrifices in independent India to decimate. It will never decimate itself and as a political scientist, I can vouch for it. A strategy has to be put in place to address the grievances and allegations made by all its best leaders who quit the party in the last eight years. Gehlot or Azad is ok intermittently but the party has to have a strategy for the next 30 years and empower such leaders who will play a longer inning,” the TISS academician added.
Some other names like those of Mallikarjun Kharge and Kumari Selja ( both Dalit leaders) are doing the rounds, but, surprisingly, non-descript figures like Mukul Wasnik and KC Venugopal are reported to be in the race.
A section in the party feels that someone like Sachin Pilot, who has the essential political background and personality and also can match the best of BJP leaders in articulation, will be the best bet to revive the party. However, many within the party feel that Sachin Pilot could be a threat to Rahul Gandhi, and point out to the unpleasant experience of the past by citing the examples of Jyotiraditya Scindia, RPN Singh, Himanta Biswa, Sushmita Dev, and others who vowed to be die-hard Congressmen and devoted Gandhi loyalists but failed the test miserably. Then there are others like Anand Sharma, P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, and many other Congress leaders who have often said that the Gandhis are the glue that binds the party together.
In case of a non-Gandhi pick, the party also wants to make sure that they don’t have to deal with another Sitaram Kesari, who sidelined many Gandhi loyalists on becoming Congress president.
Gehlot has been batting for Rahul Gandhi to lead the show from 2022. While his name is being speculated as the likely pick for the top Congress post after he met with Sonia Gandhi last week, he has not opened his cards. Gehlot met Sonia Gandhi just a day after he asserted Rahul Gandhi remains the party’s unanimous leader. Till now, Gehlot has not shared in public what transpired in the meeting.
“If Rahul Gandhi does not become the president, many people will be disappointed and will sit at home,” Gehlot had remarked.
Congress is expected to announce the schedule of the election of the party president soon after the Congress Working Committee meeting to be addressed by Sonia Gandhi on a virtual mode as she is abroad for a medical check-up and is reported to be reluctant just like Rahul to return as full-time party president for another year.
In all probability, a section of insiders feels that the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ has been advanced and timed accordingly to suit the ongoing process of the election of the party president by September 20. The success of this journey and the scheduled rally in Delhi on September 4 will be credited to Rahul Gandhi, who can then be ‘emotionally’ persuaded to take up the reins once again.
While Rahul Gandhi has failed to live up to the task in the past, his sister Priyanka Gandhi has done little to stake claim for the top office after her poor show in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Though Gehlot comes with many credentials, his unassuming self may make him acceptable to even other aspirants for the PM’s office, who cannot come under the leadership Gandhis.
Unless Congress picks up a fighting fit Captain, there is little hope that this Titanic of Indian politics can hope to challenge to hostile waves.
( The writer is a Special Correspondent of The Pioneer)